Behind Closed Doors
by kate657
Summary: Nathan Scott is the star basketball player. Haley James is his tutor and also best friends with his estraged half brother. It appears that Haley is merely helping Nathan out but if you pull back the curtain, could there be something more there?
1. The Facade

**Behind Closed Doors**

**The Façade **(Chapter One)

Haley James walked into the kitchen of her house and wasn't surprised to find it empty. Her parents were rarely in the house. They'd always be off on one of their vacations that they loved to take so much. Growing up as the youngest of six children, Haley had gotten used to having a lot of people in the house. There was always someone in the bathroom in the morning before her, there was always someone using the television in the living room before her, and there was almost always someone in the kitchen whenever she woke up. Her brother, Anthony and sister, Olivia, were both out of the house when Haley was four. Every few years, another brother or sister would leave the house and by the time Haley went to grade nine, it was only her and her older sister Taylor left. Then, Taylor graduated that year and they both went their separate ways. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder and headed out the door. She smiled when as she got into the pick-up that Lucas usually drove. "Hey, loser," she said as she put her seatbelt on.

"Nice to see you too, Hales." Lucas said as he put the car in gear and started to drive. They walked into the school and headed to her locker. "So, what'd you do this weekend?" Lucas asked. Haley put some books away and as she was closing her locker, she smiled mischievously.

"Oh, I had a big date on Saturday. I got totally wasted and when I woke up the next morning, I had a tattoo on my shoulder with a random symbol," Haley joked. Lucas rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Now, that you've teased me. How about telling me what you really did?" he asked.

"I tutored someone on Saturday and finished up my essay for English on Sunday," Haley replied. Lucas slowed down for a minute.

"Oh, shoot!" he exclaimed. Haley grimaced.

"Let me guess: you didn't finish your essay," she said, smirking sympathetically. They stopped at his locker and he bit his lip.

"I totally spaced. I didn't even start it," Lucas said.

"Oh!" Haley exclaimed and started laughing.

"It's not funny, Haley. This is the second time in a row that I haven't handed an assignment in on time for that class. Ms. Reid is going to kill me," he said. Haley stopped to think for a minute.

"Well, the class isn't until fifth period and you've got lunch and then a spare. You could try to write it then," she suggested. Lucas stopped for a second. He nodded.

"Hey, you also have a lunch and a spare," he reminded her. Haley nodded as if that was hardly news. He smiled at her suggestively. Haley looked at him in confusion. And then he widened his eyes and smile. Now, Haley knew what he was thinking. She started shaking her head.

"Oh, no. Forget it, Luke," she said.

"Oh, come on, Hales. Will you please help me out just this once?" he asked. Haley stopped and thought it over. "I'd owe you big time," he reminded her.

"Good to know," she commented. Then, she smiled and said, "I'll help you." Lucas smirked and hugged her and lifted her up.

"Thanks, you're the best!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, tutor girl, keep your hands off my boyfriend," Brooke Davis said as she and Peyton Sawyer came towards them. Haley and Lucas looked at each other. They both burst out laughing.

"As if we would ever start dating," Lucas said. Haley's face shrivelled in disgust at the idea.

"What's wrong with him?" Brooke asked. Haley smiled.

"Well, I knew him when he was picking his nose and eating bugs, so…" Haley said and let her sentence trail off. Peyton wrinkled her nose and nodded.

"I see what you mean," she said.

"Well, I'm off to math class," Haley said, leaving.

"Doesn't that girl think of anything besides school?" Brooke commented when she thought Haley was out of ear shot.

"Sure I do. It's just that I actually happen to like to be on time for class and not get a detention for something as stupid as being late," Haley called back. Brooke's entire face went red with embarrassment.

Nathan Scott walked into school on Monday morning and went immediately to his locker. He grabbed his math books and put his jacket in the locker and then closed the locker. He yawned as he closed his locker and his friends, Tim Smith and Randy Turner came up to him.

"Hey, Nate," Tim said coolly. Nathan nodded at both of them.

"What were you up to all weekend? We never saw you at the parties," Randy asked. Nathan smirked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he asked. Tim and Randy laughed at his joke.

"Did you have a date?" Tim asked. Nathan shook his head.

"No, I was doing homework," Nathan said. Tim and Randy looked at him in confusion. "Tutoring," he reminded them.

"Oh, right. Lucas' best friend is tutoring you, right?" Tim asked. Nathan nodded.

"How's that going?" Randy asked.

"Fine," he replied sharply. He led the way to class and sat down. He noticed Haley in her seat beside Jake Jagielski.

SEVENTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER (SECOND PERIOD)

Haley went to the tutoring centre and started putting files away. She was the only one there. Then, the door opened and closed. She looked up from what she was doing and nodded at Nathan. "Nathan," she said in a casual voice.

"Haley," he said mimicking her voice. He looked around and smiled. Then, he closed the door and put the blinds down. He came over to her and pulled her to him. She smiled as he bent his head down and started kissing her. When the kiss ended, he smiled. "I've been waiting to do that all day," he said. Haley laughed.

"You saw me all weekend," she reminded him.

"Yeah, well, I miss you while we're in school and we have the same class in the morning," he said. She leaned up on her toes and kissed him again.

"Well, we both agreed that for now, we'd keep things between us. The entire school doesn't need to know our business," Haley said. He nodded.

"Yeah, I know and I agree," Nathan said. Then, they smiled and looked at each other knowingly. "This has been the best two months of my life," he said. Haley laughed.

"Same here," she said.


	2. Juggling

**Juggling **(Chapter Two)

A DAY LATER

Lucas and Haley were in his mom's café and Lucas was sitting on one of the stools that were pulled up to the counter while Haley stood behind it at the cash register. "Thank you for coming to Karen's Café. If you take a seat, your food will be with you shortly," Haley said. The girl and guy smiled gratefully and went to find a seat. Haley yawned as she wrote down the number of the table the couple had chosen.

"You seem tired," he said. Haley smiled while she was still yawning. She had stayed out half the night with Nathan and had to wake up early to go to the tutoring centre before school started. Then, she had to come straight to the café for work after school. She was looking forward to the end of her shift when she could go home and just plop right into her bed.

"I am tired," she said. Lucas laughed.

"Long day?" he asked. Haley laughed as she nodded.

"You have no idea," she said.

"So, I was thinking," he said. Haley shook her head.

"Uh oh. This is never a good thing," she said. He laughed and swat her on the hand.

"I was thinking that we haven't had a lot of time to hang out in the past week," he said. Haley smiled.

"Whose fault is that? You and Tigger have been spending every waking moment together. I'm surprised she's not here right now," Haley said.

"Just wait until you get a boyfriend, Hales. You're going to want to spend all of your time with him and I'll never see you," he said, laughing. Haley shook her head. Though she did want to spend time with Nathan, she could never imagine spending all of her time with him. Haley rolled her eyes. "By the way, when are you going to get yourself a boyfriend?" he asked. Haley narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why so interested?" she asked. He smiled and shrugged.

"I don't want you to be alone, Hales. You deserve to have someone to spend your time with, someone who'll love you. Someone who you love too. Like me and Brooke," he said. Haley laughed.

"I don't think I'd be comfortable dating a guy who likes to shop and who takes me with him like Brooke does," Haley teased.

"Very funny," he said. Haley nodded.

"I thought so," she said.

"I'm serious," he said.

"Lucas, don't worry about me. I like the way my life is right now," she said.

"Even though you're all alone?" he asked. Haley laughed.

"I'm hardly all alone," she said, hitting him with the dish rag in her hand.

"Well, you hang out with me. Who else is there?" he asked. Haley's mouth dropped open in shock.

"I love you and you are my best friend, but you're not my only friend," she said.

"Such as?" he asked.

"I'm friends with the people I tutor," she reminded him.

"You mean like Nathan?" Lucas asked sarcastically. Haley shrugged on the outside, but she was smiling on the inside.

"Sure," she said. Lucas stiffened.

"Haley, you shouldn't be friends with a guy like him," he said. Haley smiled.

"I appreciate that you want to protect me but I have three older brothers for that," she said.

"I just don't trust him. Nathan would take advantage of you," he said. Haley shook her head.

"Calm down, Luke," she said. Lucas took a deep breath.

"Okay. So, what was I talking about before?" he asked.

"The fact that we haven't seen much of each other in the last few days," Haley reminded him. Lucas nodded.

"I thought we could hang out tonight," he said. Haley groaned.

"Do we have to?" she asked. Lucas looked surprised.

"Not if you're going to act like that, no," he said. She smiled.

"I'm sorry. I'm just really tired. I think I'm just going to go to bed when I get home," she said.

"How about tomorrow?" he asked. Haley stopped to think for a second.

"I suppose I could clear my schedule to hang out with you," she said. He laughed.

"I appreciate you going to so much trouble just for me," he said. Haley laughed.

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

"I don't know. Hit a movie?" he asked. Haley shook her head. "Just hang out," he suggested. Haley pretended to think it over.

"Okay, but if you ask me to help you with another assignment that you forgot to work on, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you," she said.

"One time I did that!" he exclaimed. Haley laughed. "Are you going to hold it over my head for the rest of our lives?" he asked.

"No, no. Til the end of the week. Tops," she replied. He rolled his eyes.

"Fine. It's a deal. I'll go and call Brooke," he said. The door swung open and Brooke, Peyton, Jake Tim and Nathan all walked in with a few other guys from the team.

"No need to. She just walked in," Haley said, nodding towards the door. He turned around and smiled as Brooke skipped over and kissed him.

"What are you and tutor girl doing?" Brooke asked a few seconds later. Lucas smiled.

"Just hanging out," he replied. Haley scoffed and laughed.

"I'm working," she commented. They all started gabbing. Even Nathan and Lucas seemed to be acting civil towards one another. Haley turned to the people in line and started taking their orders. Then, Nathan sat down and started looking at her. He smiled at her. "Hi, Nathan," Haley said civilly. He nodded and smiled.

"How are you doing today?" he asked softly. She held up one finger to show him that she would answer his question in a minute.

"Hi, can I get you anything?" Haley asked. The customer was a girl from their school. Haley recognized her but had no idea what her name is.

"Uh, yeah. How about a coffee to go?" she asked. Haley smiled. The girl told her how she took her coffee and Haley turned around and started making it. The girl turned her attention to Nathan and smiled at him. "Hi, Nathan," she said.

"Hey, Rachel. How are you doing?" he asked.

"Fine. Glad that game is finally over. You did awesome, by the way," Rachel said. He nodded appreciatively. Haley came back with her coffee and put a lid on it.

"Here you go. That'll be $4.25," Haley said. Rachel reached into her purse and grabbed a five dollar bill.

"You can keep the change. I'm a generous tipper," Rachel said smiling. Haley frowned. It wasn't what she said that offended Haley, it was the way she said it. She acted as if she was being so generous by tipping Haley seventy-five cents. Haley swallowed her annoyance and smiled appreciatively at her.

"Have a good day," she said in a sarcastic sing-song voice. When Rachel left, Nathan chuckled. She looked at him. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"You're pretty amazing, you know that," he said in a casual tone just in case the other people at the counter had heard her.

"How's that?" she asked.

"The way you handled yourself with Rachel," he said. Haley looked at him in confusion. "She short-tipped you and acted like she was being so generous but you just put on a smile and even told her to have a nice day," he said, smirking. Haley shrugged.

"It's called good service," Haley said. He laughed.

"I don't envy you, Haley. Putting up with all of the people who come in here day after day," Peyton said.

"Especially people like Rachel," Brooke added.

"That's nothing compared to some of the people she's dealt with," Lucas said.

"What are you talking about, Luke?" Haley asked.

"You've told me about some of the customers who come in here late on Friday nights," he reminded her. Haley's nose wrinkled in disgust as she nodded.

"They're the worst. Drunken pigs," she muttered in annoyance.

"And all the other waitresses come to you for help to deal with them and you're the youngest," Lucas pointed out.

"Don't remind me," Haley said. She looked at Nathan. He had his face turned away from the others, but Haley could clearly see the expression on his face. It was full of worry. Now, Haley was worried.

"Nathan, I need to talk to you about that math test coming up on Monday," she said, looking at him with a message in her eyes. She hoped he got it. First he looked confused, but then nodded in understanding. "Come in the back with me," she said, flipping the top of the counter so he could come.

She brought him to where all of the sugar and coffee beans were kept which was in a small storage room. He leaned against the wall. "Are you ok?" she asked, coming closer to him. He looked down at her and sighed.

"What did Lucas mean? What do the customers do?" he asked. Haley smiled.

"Oh, some of the guys are drunk and they kind of get a little carried away. It's nothing," she said.

"Does that mean they hit on you?" he asked.

"More like proposition me. A lot of them are in college or in their early thirties," she said. His hand went into a fist.

"Do they hurt you?" he asked. Haley chuckled.

"No, of course not," she said.

"So they don't grab you or anything?" he asked, looking at her carefully.

"Well, some of them do, but it doesn't hurt," she said. His jaw clenched. "Besides, like Lucas said, I know how to handle them," she said. Nathan put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her close to him. They stood there for a minute, just enjoying the feel of each other. Haley was the first one to pull away, but he gently pulled her back. "Nathan, come on. They're going to start wondering where we are," Haley reminded him. He nodded.

"Just one more minute," he said, folding his arms around her again and holding her close. Haley relaxed and smiled.

"Okay," she said simply and leaned up and kissed him.

TWO MINUTES LATER

Nathan and Haley joined the rest of them in the actual café. Haley groaned when she saw the line-up. Nathan laughed. "What took you so long?" Brooke asked.

"I needed a little advice on the trigonometry section of the test," Nathan replied simply. Brooke nodded.

"Say no more. I had math last semester," she said. Nathan laughed.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" Lucas asked Brooke.

"Don't you have plans with her?" Brooke asked. Lucas shook his head. "Well, I already made plans with Peyton," Brooke said.

"It's ok, Brooke. If you want to go on a date, go ahead. It's not like I don't have a boyfriend that I can spend my time with," Peyton said. Jake came over and put his arms around her. Brooke smiled.

"Thanks, P. Sawyer," Brooke said. Then she turned around and looked at Lucas. "I guess we could go see a movie," Brooke said. Lucas looked at Haley and smiled.

"Now, why didn't I think of that?" Lucas asked Brooke, but it was a pointed comment to Haley for turning down his suggestion of going to see a movie. Haley rolled her eyes and gave him a sarcastic sympathetic look.

"Well, we'll see you later, tutor girl," Brooke said, getting up and going towards the door.

"I'll be counting down the minutes," Haley called after her. Brooke laughed. Haley and Brooke weren't bitter enemies or anything, but they weren't close friends either. They had nothing against the other one. It was more that they didn't have a lot in common other than the fact that they both cared about Lucas. They talked to each other and a lot of their conversations involved harmless little jabs at the other one. Haley turned around and was surprised to see Nathan still sitting down.

"Nathan, see you later," one of the team mates called. Nathan nodded.

"Have fun, guys," Nathan called.

"You're not going with them?" Peyton asked quietly. Nathan smirked as he shook his head. Peyton looked at him carefully for a second and then shook her head. Then, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around and was surprised when it was his half-brother, Lucas.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" he asked. Nathan rolled his eyes.

"No, not really," Nathan replied.

"Well, go find somewhere to be and stop bothering Haley," Lucas said. Nathan smiled. If only Lucas knew the truth.

"Luke, it's fine. He's not bothering me," Haley said.

"This is a restaurant. Maybe I'm hungry," Nathan said.

"So go somewhere else," Luke said. Nathan turned around on the stool and shook his head. He was about to tell Lucas off but he stopped when he saw the expression on her face. Before they started dating and she was just tutoring him, she had told him how annoying it was to play referee between him and Lucas. So Nathan sighed. He was about to get up and leave, but Haley got out from behind the counter and walked over to Lucas.

"Luke, calm down. I asked Nathan to stay because I'm going to put him to work on some math problems," Haley said. After Lucas, Brooke, Jake and Peyton had all left, Haley went back to work. A few minutes later, Nathan smiled at her. She caught him. "What's with that look?" she asked.

"You said you hate playing referee with me and Lucas," he reminded her. Haley laughed as she nodded.

"So?" she asked.

"So I was just about to leave, but you walked over to Lucas and told him to calm down. You played the referee when you didn't need to," he said.

"Well, you were going to leave," Haley said. He looked at her in confusion. "Well, that's why I did it," Haley said simply. Nathan smiled at her.

"You didn't want me to leave so you resorted to doing something you hate in order to get me to stay?" he asked, smiling in amusement.

"Don't be cocky," she warned him.

"I'm not being cocky. I'm flattered," he teased. Haley came over to him and leaned over the counter.

"You didn't want to leave and you know it," she said, smiling. She took his left and in her right hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.


	3. The Secret's Out

**The Secret's Out** (Chapter Three)

Nathan and Haley walked out of the café together. "Where do you want to go?" he asked. Haley turned around and started walking backwards and smiled widely.

"Follow me," she said, leading the way. They walked for what seemed forever until they were near on a dock with a picnic table. Haley smiled and sat down and motioned for Nathan to sit down beside her. He sat down and put his arm around her and drew her close. She bent her head back to look up at him. She put her hand on his cheek and moved her index finger along the smooth skin. He put his hand under her chin and bent his head down and kissed her hard. When the kiss ended, Nathan smiled when Haley opened her eyes and smiled up at him.

"I've been wanting to bring you here for a long time," she said a few seconds later. Nathan looked around. It was pretty peaceful and quiet where they were and the fact that there was a lake added that extra touch of peacefulness. He smiled and pulled her tighter. "I come here whenever I want to be alone and clear my mind," she said.

"If you come here to be alone, why did you bring me here?" he asked.

"Because now we can be alone together and besides, it's also my favourite place in town," she said. He laughed and kissed her on the cheek.

"So, what are you doing tomorrow night?" Nathan asked.

"I have plans with Lucas," she said. Nathan nodded. "What are you doing?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Well, I was hoping to spend some time with you, but I'll probably end up just staying home," he said. Haley stopped leaning against him and moved her head up to look him in the eye.

"Nathan Scott is going to stay home on a Friday night?" she teased. Nathan shrugged. Haley yawned.

"Are you tired?" he asked. Haley nodded. "Do you want to go home?" he asked. Haley shrugged.

"It doesn't matter," she replied softly.

"Hales, we've stayed out a long time the past few days. If you're tired, then you should go home and get some sleep," he said. Haley smiled to herself. She looked up at him and kissed him.

"Ok." Haley said.

FRIDAY

Nathan walked to the door and answered it. He was stunned when it was Peyton Sawyer smiling at him. He smirked. "Hey, Peyton. What's up?" he asked. Peyton shrugged.

"Just thought I'd come to hang out. Jake's working at the café," Peyton said. Nathan shrugged and moved out of the way for her to come in. "So where are your parents?" she asked walking into the living room and sitting down.

"Mom's at work at the café and Dad's at the dealership," Nathan replied.

"So, you're here all alone?" she asked. Nathan nodded. "So, are you coming to Brooke's party tonight?" Peyton asked. Nathan shook his head.

"No, I think I'm just going to stay in tonight," he said. Shock didn't even come close to describing the look on her face. Peyton laughed.

"You're gong to stay at home on a Friday?" Peyton asked. He nodded. Peyton looked at him suspiciously. "Are you sure you're not hanging out with Haley tonight?" she asked.

"No, she's got plans with Lucas tonight," Nathan said without thinking. Then when he realized what he said, he sighed in frustration. He put his hands up to his face and rubbed his temple and then when he looked back at her, Peyton was smiling.

"I knew it!" she practically yelled. Nathan's expression changed distinctly. His face was a mask and Peyton couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"You knew what?" he asked in mock amusement.

"That something's going on between you and Haley," she said.

"Yeah, she's my tutor," Nathan said, looking at her in confusion. Peyton scoffed.

"She's more than just your tutor, Nathan, so don't insult my intelligence by trying to lie to me," Peyton said. Nathan stood still for a moment. Peyton was hoping he was going to bring the wall down and finally admit to it. To her amazement, his mask disappeared and she could see the amusement in his eyes.

"How did you find out?" he asked.

"You stayed at the café," Peyton reminded him. He looked at her in confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"Yesterday when we were all hanging out at Karen's Café and Haley was working. When everyone, including the rest of the team decided to leave, you didn't go with them. You decided to stay behind," Peyton said.

"And by that, you figured I'm dating Haley?" he said. Peyton took a step back and looked at him.

"Did you just say 'dating'?" she teased. He glared at her. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. You've never 'dated' anyone before, Nate, and to hear you say it and actually mean it is new," she said, laughing.

"Very funny. Now let's get back to how you took the fact that I stayed at the café to mean that I was dating Haley," he said.

"Oh, it didn't," Peyton said. He looked at her in confusion. "I just thought it was weird. I mean, I knew you and Haley were friends, I just didn't think you were very close friends. So when I came back to get my coat and saw the two of you looking a little cosy, I figured something was going on," Peyton said. He sighed. "How long have you two been seeing each other?" Peyton asked. Nathan smirked.

"A little over two months," he replied. Peyton smiled and nodded.

"Interesting," she commented.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, that just happens to coincide with when you stopped having your infamous one-night stands," Peyton said. Nathan shook his head in annoyance. He and Peyton had been friends since sixth grade, so they knew exactly what buttons to push. They even dated for a few weeks in ninth grade, but it was over as quickly as it had started. "Who else knows about it?" Peyton asked.

"Besides you and me, only Haley knows," he said.

"You're keeping it a secret?" Peyton asked in confusion. Nathan nodded. "Why?" she asked.

"I'm really serious about her, Peyton, and if the rest of the school found out about us, we'd never get a moment's peace. Lucas would go ballistic and I don't want Haley to be hurt by her best friend like that. I know how important her friendship with Lucas is to her. Other girls would constantly be bothering Haley or warning her about me if they happened to be one of the girls I…," he said.

"You had sex with and then ditched the morning after?" Peyton finished and smiled at him in amusement when she noticed that he was glaring at her.

"I'm not that guy anymore," he said defensively. Peyton softened.

"I know you're not and I'm guessing part of that is because of Haley. I'm just surprised," she said.

"About what, that I'm being nice and in a steady relationship?" he asked. Peyton shook her head.

"No, that Haley James is actually dating you," Peyton said. "Gee, thanks," he said. Peyton chuckled. "Come on. You know what I mean. Do you remember when you asked her to tutor you?" Peyton asked.

"Yeah, she was convinced that I was just using her as a way to drive Lucas nuts," Nathan said.

"And you're trying to tell me that wasn't part of the reason?" Peyton asked. She knew him too well.

"Well, yeah, okay, at the time, it was part of the reason," he admitted.

"That's what I thought. But what I meant was that she had such a hard time deciding whether or not she should tutor you. I remember her telling me that she was taking a huge chance on you. She wasn't completely convinced what your motives were back then," Peyton reminded him.

AN HOUR LATER

Peyton walked into Karen's Café and smirked when she saw Haley come around to the counter. She had a bin and was walking around collecting dirty dishes. She put the bin down on the counter and looked up at Peyton. She smiled. "Hey," she said. Peyton nodded. "You waiting for Jake?" she asked. Peyton nodded.

"Where is he?" Peyton asked. "Oh, Deb sent him on a delivery across town. He should be back in a few minutes," Haley replied.

"So what are you up to tonight?" Peyton asked.

"Lucas and I are going to hang out," she replied.

"Oh, so you're not going to be kissing Nathan tonight? Saving it for Saturday?" Peyton asked quietly. Haley paused momentarily and then she chuckled.

"Nathan told you, didn't he?" she asked.

"That you and he have been having secret meetings behind closed doors for the past two months?" Peyton asked. To her amazement, Haley's face remained calm. She didn't look angry even though it was obvious that Peyton was teasing her in the hopes of getting a rise out of her, but Haley caught on to the type of person Peyton was pretty quickly. She knew that Peyton liked to kid around a lot but anything that came out of her mouth was never her intending to be mean. She nodded. Peyton smirked and nodded. "After I cornered him with it, yeah," Peyton replied smiling. Haley's face grew serious.

"Look, Peyton, you have to promise not to tell anyone- even Jake and especially not Lucas," Haley said.

"Hey, I'm not Brooke; I know how to keep my mouth shut," Peyton said, laughing. Haley nodded appreciatively. "Just out of curiosity, why haven't you told Lucas?" Peyton asked. Haley smiled.

"Did you see how he reacted when Nathan decided to stay at the café yesterday?" Haley asked. Peyton stopped to think for a moment. Then, she nodded. "That's why," Haley replied. Peyton laughed. Haley leaned on the counter and looked at Peyton. "I'm going to tell him about it eventually. I just…" Haley started to say. Peyton shook her head.

"You don't have to explain it to me, Haley. I understand. I've been in the middle of a Lucas/Nathan war before and it was over a basketball game. I can't even imagine how hard it must be when you're dating one and best friends with the other," Peyton said. Haley nodded.

"It is hard when two of the people you really care about hate each other," Haley said in agreement.

"For what it's worth: It's not like you need Lucas' permission to date Nathan," Peyton reminded her. Haley laughed.

"Oh, I know that and it's not like I have an obligation to tell him or anything. Because I don't," Haley said, seemingly more to herself.

"That's right; you don't. But we both know that you will tell him because that's the kind of friend you are," Peyton said. Haley nodded and smiled.

"Just not right now," Haley said.

SATURDAY

Haley walked to the dock and sat down at the picnic table while she waited for Nathan early on Saturday morning. She opened her textbook and binder and started working on some of her own homework. It was cold that morning and she started shivering. Then a jacket was put on her shoulders and she recognized the scent of cologne immediately. She turned around and smiled as Nathan put his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck. "Hey," he said and planted a kiss on the top of her head. Then he made his way over to the other side of the bench and put his books down. "So what are you working on?" he asked.

"Biology," she replied. He laughed.

"Sounds fun," he said sarcastically.

"Ha, ha. How are you doing with that study package I gave you?" she asked.

"Fourth page," he replied proudly. Haley dropped her pen and looked at him in amazement. There were five pages, but with the way he usually worked, she expected him to be on the third page. She got up and put her arms through the sleeves of his jacket and walked over to him. She smiled.

"That's great," she told him as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, I had a lot of spare time yesterday. I figured I might as well do some homework," he said. Haley laughed. She started to walk away but he gently grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down beside him. "Hold on a second. I haven't seen you since Thursday," he said. Haley smiled and turned around to face him. He pulled her into a kiss that made her thankful that she was sitting down as she felt her body start to weaken. If she had been standing up, her knees probably would've gave out.

"What the hell?" someone said. Haley could swear that she recognized the voice and she pulled away and turned around to see that Lucas was there. He looked stunned. "I came here to hang out with you because I thought you might want some company. Um, something tells me that I was wrong," Lucas said. Haley could practically feel the anger coming off him in waves. He turned around and walked away. Haley got up, still wearing Nathan's jacket, leaving her books on the table and walked after him.

"Lucas, wait!" she called after him.


	4. Delusions

**Delusions** (Chapter Four)

Haley sat down in her bedroom on Sunday afternoon. She was confused and broken at the same time. In one day, her entire world had fallen apart and she was scrambling to make sense of everything. She heard a knock on the front door. She looked out her window and saw familiar curly blond hair. She knew right away that it was Peyton. She sighed. She didn't want company right now especially after everything that had just happened, but she walked downstairs anyways and opened the front door. Peyton looked at her sympathetically. Haley figured that this meant that she knew. "Hey," she said softly. Haley nodded at her and let her in. Peyton walked up the front hall stairs and into the kitchen. "How are you?" she asked. Haley laughed at the absurdity of the question.

"Hmm. That's a tough question to answer," Haley said, putting her finger under her chin to emphasize the fact that she was pretending to actually consider how she was feeling. Peyton looked down. Since she met her, Peyton had deduced that Haley had always been a little sarcastic- had even witnessed it herself- but this was a new level, even for Haley.

"Sorry. What the hell happened?" Peyton asked, sitting down at the kitchen table. Haley rolled her eyes and laughed bitterly as she began to tell the tale.

"Once upon a time, there was a girl who had a best friend and for a long time, it was just the two of them against the world. All they had was each other. Then, the guy joins their high school's basketball team, which his popular half-brother just happens to the star player of. Just so there's no confusion; the brothers- they hate each other. So the guy's brother decides to make his life a living hell. He even goes so far as to approach his best friend for help in school. The best friend, being the idiot that she is, can't see through his act and decides to help him. Then, she slowly realizes that there's more to the brother than meets the eye and falls for him: Hook, line and sinker," Haley started off dramatically. Peyton rolled her eyes but couldn't help but find some amusement in the way that Haley had chosen to tell her.

"Yeah, I knew all that. I also know that the girl starts dating the guy's brother behind his back and then he finds out and suddenly everything's gone to hell. What happened with Luke, Hales?" Peyton asked. Haley looked around the room.

(FLASHBACK)

"Lucas!" Haley exclaimed. Lucas didn't turn around; he just kept on walking away.

"Are you going to talk to me?" she asked. He slowed down and turned around.

"I don't know what you expect me to say, Hales," he said. Haley looked down. "How long, Haley?" he asked. Haley stopped walking and looked at him in confusion. "How long have you been seeing Nathan?" he asked. Haley swallowed the lump in her throat and sighed.

"Almost three months now," she admitted. Lucas scoffed.

"So you've been lying to me about seeing my brother for three months? How could you, Haley?" he demanded.

"I was going to tell you…" she started but he interrupted.

"Gee, what stopped you? Could it be shame?" he asked. Haley shook her head.

"That's a really horrible thing to say," she said. Lucas looked at her incredulously.

"You're dating Nathan, Haley. Are you telling me that he hasn't said some horrible things?" Lucas asked. Haley nodded.

"You don't know him, Lucas," she said.

"Know him? I don't have to know him. I'm just going by what he's shown me. Do you remember all of the stuff he did to me?" he asked. Haley looked down.

"He's not the same person anymore," she said. Lucas scoffed.

"You live under the delusion that you can fix everything that's not perfect," Lucas said.

"What does that mean?" she demanded.

"You know what it means, Haley!" Lucas exclaimed.

"Obviously I don't," Haley said.

"Wanting to believe the best in people doesn't make it true, Haley. And I feel sorry for you because you're going to be really disappointed," he said. Haley shrugged.

"I don't care, Luke. That's who I am. I believe in people; I like to think that people are good even if it means I'll be disappointed once in a while," Haley said.

"And when that does happen, don't expect me to be around to pick up the pieces of your heart after he breaks it," Lucas said. Haley's face crumpled as she fought to hold back her tears.

"Fine," she said sadly. Lucas shook his head in anger and walked away leaving Haley standing on the dock with Nathan's jacket still on crying.

(END OF FLASHBACK)

"Have you talked to Nathan since?" Peyton asked. Haley shook her head. "You just left him there?" Peyton asked.

Haley looked to one of the chairs at the table.

"And stole his jacket," she replied, pointing to his jacket spread across the back of the chair. Peyton looked over and laughed.


	5. What Lies Within

**What Lies Within **(Chapter Five)

Nathan walked up to Haley's front door and lightly knocked on it. He heard someone walking around and then the door opened. Haley smiled at him. "Hey," she said, taking his hand and pulling him inside. He had their books in his bag and he dropped the bag when she closed the door. He pulled her to him and hugged her tightly.

"So, when you never came back, I assumed you were upset because things probably didn't go so well with Lucas," he murmured into her hair. Haley nodded. She pulled away just enough to look up at him.

"No, things didn't go well at all. I'm sorry I just left like that," she said.

"Don't worry about it. I understand," he said and kissed her again. He followed her into the kitchen and walked over to the chair that had his jacket around it. He looked up at her thoughtfully. "I've been wondering where I left this," he joked. Haley laughed. "So, are you and Lucas in a fight?" he asked. Haley smirked.

"More like a hiatus or we're cancelled. I don't know," she said.

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked. Haley shrugged and looked at him.

"Well, the last thing he told me was to not expect him to be around when you dump me," she said, laughing. Nathan walked over to her and lifted her head up.

"Lucas is an idiot and sooner or later, he's going to realize what an ass he's being. And about my dumping you: it's bull shit. If anything, you'd dump me," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

"I would not," she insisted.

"Exactly. It's ludicrous. I'm happy with what I have and that's you. I don't want anyone else, Hales," he said.

Haley smiled softly.

"For once in our relationship, I know exactly where we stand with one another. I know you care about me, Nathan and I don't doubt you. I care about you too," she said.

"Well, good. I'm glad," he said, leaning down and kissing her again. He pulled her up onto the kitchen counter and continued kissing her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.

Haley walked into school nervously. For the first time in her life, she felt completely alone at school. Lucas was no longer there for her as her best friend. And Nathan and she weren't public so he couldn't exactly be there for her. She walked to her locker and started feeling anxious again. She grabbed her books, looked around, spotted Lucas and then looked away. He was chatting with Brooke and Peyton. This was not a familiar feeling with Haley although some people might be surprised. She felt like an outsider. Then a strong arm came around her shoulder and squeezed her tightly. She looked up and smiled at Nathan. He leaned down and kissed her hard. "I'm always here for you," he promised.


	6. You & Me Against the World

**You & Me Against the World **(Chapter Six)

Haley walked out of class and noticed a few girls gathered by her locker. She was confused. She didn't know who they were. In fact, she'd never seen them before. She carefully approached her locker and winced when one girl started to laugh. She opened her locker door and put some books in and took other ones out. "So, Haley, exactly what is the point you're trying to make?" A girl asked. Haley turned around.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Haley said. She laughed.

"Sure you do. But allow me to clarify: You're dating Nathan," she replied.

"And?" Haley asked. Now she remembered the girl. Her name was Julie North. Julie smiled at her sarcastically.

"Well, what are you trying to prove? That you're one of us because you have him?" she asked.

"One of you?" Haley asked. They looked at each other knowingly.

"Yeah. One of the rich and popular. Nathan's group," Julie said. Haley couldn't help but crack a smile.

"I'm not trying to prove anything, least of all that I'm one of you," she replied.

"Could've fooled us," Julie said.

"What exactly is your problem, Julie? Are you bothered that I have Nathan because I'm not like one of the girls he usually dates? Or is it because he stayed with me but dumped you?" Haley asked. Most people thought she was a perfect little angel. They didn't realize that she could be just like all of them. Julie laughed.

"Oh, please. You're not special to him and you know it. You and Nathan haven't been dating that long. Once he gets what he wants from you, he'll ditch you," she said. Haley shook her head and laughed. "What's funny?" Julie asked.

"You," Haley replied. Julie raised an eyebrow. "It just amazes me that you think you have everything figured out, when the sad reality is, is that you're completely clueless," Haley said. Julie looked mad. "For your information, Nathan and I have been dating for three months," Haley announced. The girls were speechless. Haley felt satisfied and walked away.

Nathan was the first one in the locker room after practice and he was already changed into his jeans and a random hockey team's jersey by the time the others got into the locker room. His friend, Tim Smith walked over to him and looked at him for a few minutes. "What's up, Tim?" Nathan asked.

"What's the deal with you and that nerd?" he asked. Nathan glared at him.

"Her name is Haley, Tim, and what are you talking about?" Nathan asked.

"Well, the word around school is that you and she have been dating for three months," another team mate, Joel, said.

"And?" Nathan asked.

"We're wondering if it's true," Tim said.

"It's true," Nathan replied.

"You're kidding," Joel said.

"No," Nathan said.

"But it's Haley James," Tim said. Nathan glared at him warningly.

"What's your point?" Nathan asked.

"What exactly is it between the two of you? You don't seem to have a whole lot in common," Joel said.

"Is she really that good in bed?" Tim asked. Nathan glared at him.

"Watch it," he warned. Tim and Jake looked at him in surprise. "It's not about sex with Haley," he explained.

"You're saying you haven't with her?" Tim asked. Just then, Lucas looked at him. Nathan found this amusing. For someone who claimed not to care about her anymore, Lucas sure took a very keen interest in conversations that Haley was mentioned in.

"Not that it's any of your business, but, no, we haven't had sex," Nathan said.

"Why not?" Joel asked.

"Like I said, it's not about that," he said in annoyance.

"Then, what is it about?" Lucas asked. Nathan looked at him.

"What are you talking about?" Nathan asked. Lucas walked over.

"Are you using Haley just to get to me? If you are, I swear," Lucas demanded, raising his arm.

"Whoa, you need to calm down," Nathan said, backing away.

"I don't like it when my friends are being taken advantage of," Lucas said. Nathan laughed.

"Here's a sad dose of reality for you, Lucas: Not everything I do is part of this supposed plan you think I've created to drive you crazy. Especially not Haley," he said. Lucas looked at him warningly for a minute and then nodded. "And, besides, I'm not that one that's hurting her right now," Nathan said. Lucas turned around and looked at him.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lucas asked.

"Why did you walk away from her? That really hurt her," Nathan said.

"She lied to me about what was going on between the two of you," Lucas said.

"And how is what goes on between me and Haley any of your business?" Nathan asked. Lucas looked away for a minute. "That's exactly what I thought. Haley's a good friend to you, Lucas. In fact, she kept it from you because she knew how you'd react and she didn't want to hurt you," Nathan said.

"And I bet that blew a huge whole in your plan," Lucas said.

"If that were true, then, I would've insisted of not hiding it. But I didn't. Because it's not about you," Nathan said.

"What is it about then?" Lucas asked.

"It's about Haley and how I'll do anything to make her happy. I don't want to see her hurt anymore than you do. But you're the one who turned your back on her, not me," Nathan said.

Haley leaned against the brick wall of the gymnasium. She was waiting for Nathan after practice. He was going to drive her to work and hang out at the café with her. A few minutes passed and the doors finally opened. A few of guys looked at her and shook their head. Haley got a bad feeling as one of them approached her. "Just exactly who do you think you are?" he asked. Haley looked at him as if it were a joke.

"What do you mean?" Haley asked.

"Do you really think you're going to be able to stay with Nathan? You're from different worlds. You look down on the things we do, but Nathan has a blast. You're delusional if you think you can pull him into your world," he said.

"I have no intention of doing that," she said.

"I think you should just dump him," he said.

"You want me to dump Nathan?" she repeated slowly. She was amazed that this guy wanted her to hurt Nathan.

"In all honesty, you'll be saving yourself a lot of pain," he said. Haley rolled her eyes and the guy laughed. "We know who Nathan really is. The fact that he's with you now doesn't change his past and you know what they say about the past," he said.

"And what do they say?" Haley asked.

"That you can run from it and even try to ignore it but in the end, the past will always come back to bite you. And you're naïve if you think Nathan's won't," he said, and then walked away. Just then, Nathan came up beside Haley and put his arm around her.

"Hey, Hales," he said and kissed her on the top of the head. She relaxed in his arms and smiled up at him.

"How was your day?" she asked.

"The team was giving me a hard time," he replied.

"About me?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, but it was because they didn't understand. I explained, though," he said. Haley nodded.

"What about you? Did you have any annoying encounters?" he asked.

"More like warnings," she replied. Nathan looked at her in concern.

"From?" he asked. Haley smiled.

"Some jealous girls and ex-girlfriends. They told me that you'll never change and that you're just after one thing and once you get it, you'll throw me away," she replied.

"Oh," he said. He looked down at her cautiously and she smiled up at him.

"And I told them to go to hell," she said. His eyebrows shot up in surprise and amusement. She hugged him tighter as they walked to his car. "I know all of those things about you, Nathan, but I also know something else," she said. He looked at her.

"What's that?" he asked.

"I know that you care about me," she replied. He laughed and kissed her on the lips.

"You better believe it," he said.

"I also know that you're not stupid enough to treat me like that," she said. This made him smile.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I have three older brothers, Nathan. How do you think they'd react if you messed with their sister?" she said. He stopped to think for a minute. "Their baby sister," she reminded him. Nathan laughed.

"They'd probably hurt me," he said, remembering that one of her brothers had been on the basketball team and was now a player on the university level and the other two were in the military.

"Yeah and my sisters would finish you off," she said.

"Well, I guess I'm stuck with you then," he said. Haley looked at him in shock and he started laughing. She punched him on the shoulder a few times. She had a good right hook.

"That's not funny," she said, laughing as he grabbed his arm in pain. They sat down in the car and he pulled her onto him in the driver's seat.

"I can't imagine anyone I'd rather be stuck with," he said, and kissed her. Haley smiled and kissed him back. Then she got into her seat and put her seatbelt on.

"Me too," she replied.


	7. Shattered

**Shattered** (Chapter Seven)

Haley sat down at the cafeteria table with Peyton, Jake and Nathan. They were eating quietly, none of them really interested in speaking to the other people. Not because they didn't like them and not because they didn't have anything to say. It was mainly because the other students in the cafeteria were filling the room with enough noise that even if they did talk, it'd be doubtful that they would be able to hear each other. So they ate.

Then, Brooke came to the table and smiled at all of them. Peyton looked up at her and rolled her eyes. Haley had her books in front of her and was writing as she ate. "Aww, don't the two of you look cute," Brooke said, as she noticed that Nathan's arm was around Haley's shoulder. Nathan's arm tightened around Haley protectively as he glared at her. Brooke smirked in amusement. It was such a sight to see Nathan Scott so possessive of a girl. Not even a year ago, Nathan had been Mr. No Strings Attached and now he reminded her of her own steady boyfriend in a way. "Look, I'm throwing a party tonight and I really want all of you to come," Brooke said. Nathan looked at her doubtfully.

"Brooke, what are you trying to pull?" he asked. Brooke shrugged.

"Nothing," she said innocently. He turned to Haley who didn't even seem to be paying attention to the conversation. He shook her gently and her pen ran off the page. She turned her head to him and looked at him in annoyance. There was a line of ink running diagonally down the page. He smirked at her.

"What?" she asked, irritation sticking out in her tone like a sore thumb.

"I'm throwing a party tonight!" Brooke exclaimed. Haley looked at her for a minute. Then she turned to Nathan and shrugged at him. Brooke's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Haley, Brooke throws the best parties," Peyton explained. Haley laughed.

"Yeah, so I've heard," she said, still chuckling. "How many people get drunk and pass out at some random house?" Brooke looked at her for a minute.

"The parties are thrown at my house," she insisted. Haley shook her head.

"Oh, no, they're not. Lucas explained to me how you throw parties at other people's houses so that if the cops happen to show up, you can't be held responsible for anything that happens at said party," Haley said. Brooke's face turned crimson.

"It's called…" she started, but stopped because she didn't remember the term that her father the military official slash lawyer had thrown around so often.

"Plausible deniability," Haley finished for her. Brooke nodded and smiled.

"Thanks, Haley. But the point is that I was wondering if all of you were going to come," she said. Haley looked at Nathan who was looking at her for an answer.

"You can go if you want. I have to work at the café," she said.

"What time do you get off?" he asked.

"Ten," Haley replied.

"All right. I'll come to the café at a quarter to so I can take you home," he said. Haley smiled and nodded. Nathan turned to Brooke and smiled widely. "Count me in," he said.

"All right. What about the two of you?" Brooke asked, looking at Peyton and Jake. They both nodded. "Fabulous!" Brooke said and walked away.

"All right, class. Now, I've got some bad news for you," the English teacher said. They all looked at her in alarm. "This unit will come back to haunt you now. Next Friday will have your Shakespeare test," she announced. Most of the students groaned, which provoked a giggle from Haley. "I'm afraid that it's true. Now, most of you will be fine. For those of you who are partial to not studying for a test and hope to wing it the next day, I'm afraid that it won't work. You'll need to study for this one," she said. She explained that she had put together a review package that will guide them on what will be on the test and as she passed them out, there was a knock on the door.

She motioned for whoever it was to come in and people started murmuring when it was the police. Haley looked up with minimum curiosity and then looked down to the papers in front of her, took out a pencil and started writing answers that came to her right away. "Haley, I'm afraid that we need to talk to you outside," she said. Haley scrunched her eyebrows in confusion, but put her pencil down and stood up and followed her teacher and the two teachers into the hall, which was across the hall from the gymnasium. The doors were wide open.

Nathan, Lucas, Brooke, Peyton and Jake were all in the gymnasium. The Ravens were gearing up for their practice right after school. They had been pulled out of class early and whenever the basketball team was pulled out of class early. Brooke and Peyton happen to have a spare the fifth period and usually got started on practice for the cheerleaders near the end of the period. They looked into the hallway and noticed the police. Nathan looked at the others in confusion. They moved towards the doorway and noticed that Haley was with them.

"What's going on?" Haley asked, looking at the three of them. They all looked at each other knowingly and then back to her for a minute. Haley was getting impatient. "Did you really pull me out here for a staring contest?" she asked.

"I'm Sergeant Vaughn and this is my partner, Detective Farrell," the older of the two said. Haley nodded and shook their hands.

"We're sorry to ambush you at school like this, Miss James, but there's been a shooting," Detective Farrell said. Haley's eyes widened.

"Don't tell me that," she said, shaking her head.

"Your father was shot," Sergeant Vaughn said, confirming her fears.

"No," she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I'm very sorry," he said.

"No," Haley said. Tears sprang to her eyes.

"My father's not in town. He's not even in the country," she told them.

"He was carrying his ID," the detective said reaching out her hand to put it on Haley's shoulder in support.

"Then, it's a fake," Haley said, moving a step away.

"Your mother was with him," Sergeant Vaughn said. They then began to tell her that her father had been shot twice, once in the lower back and again in the gut. He was stable, but he was still in critical condition. He was at Tree Hill Memorial. Haley listened to them in a state of shock as she started crying hysterically. Her teacher moved to try to offer her a shoulder to cry on, but Haley backed away and refused to let any of them touch her and just hugged herself as she continued to cry.

As soon as Lucas saw Haley move away from them and start to shake uncontrollably, he instantly put away all of his anger towards her and rushed out of the gymnasium. "Haley, what's wrong?" he asked. Haley looked up at him through her tears.

"Luke," she forced out as he walked over and brought her into a tight embrace. He began to run his fingers through her hair and started mumbling that everything was all right. She was still crying. Nathan walked over to Haley and Lucas. He turned to the officers and looked at them in annoyance.

"What did you say to her?" he asked, every protective instinct instantly taking over.

"It's ok. He's her boyfriend," the teacher said. The police nodded.

"We just told her that her father had been shot and is in the hospital," the female cop said. Nathan turned back to Haley and put his hand on her shoulder and massaged it soothingly, letting her know that he was there for her. Haley, sheltered in Lucas' friendly arms, felt the warmth and comforting touch of her boyfriend and pulled away from Lucas. She attempted a small smile, but she was still crying too hard. She turned to Nathan.

"Come here. I'm here for you," he said, pulling her into a crushing and protective embrace and he held her as close as he could while she buried her head in his shoulder.

"Let it out. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere," he whispered to her. He could feel her tears soaking his shirt but he just tightened his arms around her and kept kissing her hair.

Haley, Nathan, her mother and her father walked out of the hospital three weeks later. "It's good to finally be coming home," Jimmy James said.

"Yeah, it is," Lydia said, patting him on the shoulder as she pushed his wheelchair. Haley had questioned her parents as to what had happened when her dad was shot, but every time, they either told her that she didn't need to worry about it or they changed the subject. It was really frustrating her and she and Nathan had a long discussion about what it could possibly be about. Nathan suggested that it was probably a case of mistaken identity.

"Or just wrong place, wrong time," he had said. When they got home, Lydia took Nathan aside as Haley talked to her father privately in the backyard.

"I want to thank you for everything you've done for us during the past few weeks, Nathan," Lydia said.

"It's no problem, Mrs. James," he said, shrugging.

"You didn't have to stay at the hospital as long as you did. We know you're a basketball player and that you've skipped a couple of practices to be there for Haley," Lydia said.

"It's really not a big deal. I explained the situation to the coach and he understood," Nathan said.

"Really?" Lydia asked in surprise. Nathan nodded.

"Yes, he's fond of Haley. Actually, a lot of people are," Nathan said proudly. Lydia smiled widely.

"She's always been a sweet person," she said, nodding in agreement. Then, they heard Haley scream.

"No!" Haley screamed and then they heard a few gun shots follow her scream. Nathan rushed out to the backyard and saw Mr. James on the floor and Haley sprawled on the grass beside him. Part of her was covering him.

"Jimmy!" Lydia exclaimed in terror. Mr. James moved his head.

"I'm not hit. I'm fine," he assured them. He moved himself up, but his daughter was stopping him from being able to get up all the way.

"Haley, it's ok now. You can get up," he said, smiling. When she didn't move, he nudged her. Nathan came closer and read the look of confusion on Haley's father's face.

"Haley?" Nathan said. He bent down beside them. Mr. James was looking down at the ground. "What's going on?" Nathan asked in confusion. Then he followed Mr. James' gaze and then he saw it. The blood pooling around Haley, soaking both her and her father. Mr. James grabbed his daughter's limp body in his arms and held her close.

"Haley, answer me," he said. The colour was draining from her face. "Lydia, call 911!" Jimmy exclaimed. Nathan tasted tears in his mouth and he leaned in closer.

"Haley?" he asked. He put his hand on her face and cupped it. "Haley? Wake up," he said, shaking her a little.

"Nathan, it's no use," Jimmy said. "She's not breathing," he added. Nathan shook his head and grabbed Haley out of his arms and performed CPR until the paramedics came. He didn't know if he had gotten a pulse, but they took her from him and put her on a stretcher. They intubated her and he could see them still pushing air into her lungs as her parents got into the ambulance. He grabbed his keys from his pocket and raced to his car parked outside.


	8. Slipped Away

**Slipping Away **(Chapter Eight)

Nathan was sitting in the waiting room of Tree Hill Hospital panicking. All sorts of things were running through his mind he could barely pick out one coherent thought, there was an overwhelming fear that paralyzed him: What if Haley didn't make it? She was shot in the gut, but he wasn't sure where. The bullet could've pierced a lung, her liver, her pancreas, her heart, her spleen; there were too many possibilities. There were at least four nurses and two doctors working on her and every few minutes, someone would leave or someone would rush in and it was slowly driving him crazy that they never stopped to tell them how it was going.

He knew realistically that if they stopped to chat that it could ruin Haley's chances of surviving, but not knowing what was happening because it gave him time to agonize over what he'd do without her. All of a sudden, he heard a few familiar voices coming into the ER. He could instantly tell that Brooke was the one that was crying. He looked up and Lucas had his arm around her and pulling her close, but he was crying too, so it didn't do much. Peyton and Jake walked over to him and sat down on either side of him. Peyton put her hand in one of his and squeezed it.

He looked up at her. She had been crying. He could tell that by the fact that her face was red and puffy. She made an attempt at a smile, but it was more of a half-smile. "How are you doing?" she asked. He shook his head.

"They won't tell us anything. They just keep running in and out of the room," he said.

"They need to work on her first," Peyton said to him. He nodded. He had forgotten that Peyton had been through this when her mother died in a car accident.

"All I keep hearing is her piercing scream and then the gun shots. I hear it over and over again. And all I see is Haley's limp body lying motionless on the ground with all of that blood. It's driving me nuts. I can't get it out of my head," he said, looking at her.

"Excuse me, Mr. Scott, I couldn't help but overhear," the officer who was questioning Haley's father and mother said.

"You said Miss James screamed. Did she scream a word or did she just scream?" he asked.

"She said, 'no'," Nathan replied.

"That was because she saw the gunman before I did. He was aiming at me and Haley jumped in front me and pushed me to the ground," Jimmy James said.

"So the shooter was after you, not your daughter?" the officer asked. Jimmy nodded. "Why would someone want to shoot you?" he asked. Jimmy shrugged.

"I have no idea. I just wish it had been me and not her," Jimmy said.

"Don't say that, Jimmy. Haley was trying to protect you. She obviously wanted you to survive," Lydia said.

"Yes and it might've gotten her killed," he argued.

"Well, none of that matters now. What matters is that Haley survives and that we're all here to be here," Lucas said. Jimmy and Lydia nodded and smiled at him. Lydia walked over and hugged Lucas.

"We've missed you around the house," she said as she pulled away.

"Well, when she gets out of here, I might stay the weekends," Lucas joked. Lydia cracked a smile. Lucas walked over to Nathan, Peyton and Jake. He saw Nathan holding his head in his hand. He could tell he was crying because he was shaking and Peyton had one arm around him. Lucas put one hand on his brother's shoulder. Nathan looked up at him and wiped his face. "You did everything you could, Nathan. If you hadn't performed CPR and gotten her pulse back, there would be nothing for the doctors to save," Lucas said. Nathan nodded and shook Lucas' outstretched hand.

"Thanks," he said. Lucas nodded. Then two doctors in blue scrubs came out and approached them. Jimmy and Lydia stepped forward when they asked for Haley's parents. Lydia motioned for them to come closer.

"Your daughter suffered severe injuries. She is in a coma right now. A bullet nicked her lung and another was lodged in her spleen. We had to perform an emergency splenectomy to remove her spleen. We're going to keep her on O2 to help her breathe and monitor her progress," the doctor said.

"Will she survive?" Lydia asked. The doctor looked at her sympathetically.

"I'm not going to lie to you. She came very close to dying. If someone hadn't performed CPR, she wouldn't even stand a chance. I can't tell for certain if she'll recover. If she makes it through the night, the prognosis is good," he said.

"Can we see her?" Peyton asked. The doctor nodded.

"Only a few at a time. Try to keep it down to two or one visitors at a time," he said.

Two hours later, Peyton and Jake came out of Haley's room and said good-bye to Nathan. Lucas and Brooke had left earlier. Brooke needed something to eat and Lucas wanted to go home to fill his mom and everyone else in on Haley's progress. Jimmy had convinced Lydia to go home to get some sleep and a few of Haley's sisters and brothers were all flying in, so Jimmy had decided to take Lydia to the airport to pick up their other children. They had been a little hesitant to leave Haley alone and asked Nathan to stay the night with her. He couldn't believe they were actually serious. Of course he would stay with her. He'd move in if they would let him while she was there. So he took a deep breath and entered her room.

It was so quiet except for her heart monitor beeping and the oxygen machine making a "whoosh" sound as it pumped air into her. She was dressed in a paper-thin hospital gown with around five blankets on her body. Even through all of that, he could clearly see where the two holes in her gut where the bullets had pierced her fragile body because the bandages stood up a little. He sat down beside her and took one of her hands into both of his and squeezed it to let her know he was there. Her hand was freezing, but he didn't care. He got up and planted a kiss on her forehead and then another on her chafe, almost colourless lips.

"I love you, Hales. Everyone loves you and we all need you. That's why you've got to pull through this. Besides, what about all of your dreams? Going to university? Where did you always want to go again?" he joked. "Oh, right. Stanford. How could I forget that, right? You remind me constantly. If you hadn't, I think the Stanford paraphernalia on your little bulletin board in your room is a major clue. Your mom told me you actually traced and coloured that map of the campus when you were around seven. If you want me to have the grades to be able to go to that school with you, you're going to need to wake up and start tutoring me again. There's no way I'll get there by myself," he said, and chuckled as he pictured her outraged expression she got on her face whenever he put himself down in his mind.

"It's always been Duke for me. But that's just my dad's dream. I can play basketball anywhere and I choose to be with you. But, then, it's a little early to be thinking about college, right? Well, I think about these kind of things. You know? Our future," he said.

An hour later, Nathan was still yammering on about a bunch of stuff. He reminded her of the first time she had tutored him and he had tried to "woo" her as she called it. "I'll never forget when you picked up the book and said: 'Do you see this book? Because this book is me. I am math.' And I asked what you meant and you answered and confused a touchdown for a basket and then when I corrected you, you just shrugged and said: 'Whatever. Look, the point is at the end of the day, all your bluster and B.S. don't mean anything to math because math don't care, and neither do I.'" He laughed at the memory again. "You know what I'll never forget? Our first kiss," he replied.

(FLASHBACK)

Nathan finally arrived at her house, picked up a handful of gravel and hurled them at her window. Then Haley walked by, took a quick look at what he was doing and smiled. Then put on her tough face and walked up to him. "Trying to wake up my parents? That's their room," she said. He turned around and stood still for a minute. Haley rolled her eyes and started to walk away.

"Wait! Haley, look, I need to apologize, okay?" he asked, following her.

Haley turned around momentarily and said: "You should write them in bulk if you're going to hand apologies out that often." He sighed.

"Can we just?" he started to ask but stopped when he saw her glare. I don't know how to do this, alright? I'm not like you," he said. Haley narrowed her eyes.

"What does that mean?" she demanded. He put his hands up in a gesture.

"I screw up a lot, alright? And being around you, I just, I don't want to be that guy anymore," he said.

"Well, who do you want to be, Nathan?" Haley asked immediately.

"I want to be someone who's good enough to be seen with you," he said. Haley's face softened a little as she thought about it for a minute. Then she remembered the way he had changed into an arrogant jerk once his friends came around and her face hardened again.

"Well, you should've thought of that last night!" she exclaimed. Then she threw her hands up in frustration. "You know, I keep, I keep putting myself out there, and you keep blowing it, it's probably a good thing because at this point there's nothing you could say or do that's gonna surprise me." Nathan clenched his jaw and looked at her for a minute. He leaned in and caught her lips in a sudden kiss. When the kiss ended, Haley opened her eyes. "Except that," she muttered quietly. "You shouldn't have done that, Nathan," she said. He sighed and shrugged.

"I wanted to," he said. He didn't seem the least bit remorseful for doing it or seem to regret it at all. Haley nodded.

"Yeah," she agreed. She paused and stared at him, studying him. Then she suddenly leaned forward, threw her arms around his neck and latched onto him, and kissed him again much more passionately. The first kiss was a peck compared to this one. Nathan put his arms around her and pulled her closer. When they broke apart, he smiled at her. Seeing his reaction, Haley smiled too.

(END OF FLASHBACK)

He still remembered the feeling of shock as she kissed him back and right then, he could feel the need from that he had felt then. All of a sudden a long sustaining beep alarmed. He looked around and noticed it was her heart monitor. The line that normally went up and down was now flat and straight. He looked at Haley and panic took over his body. "Haley?" he called to her even though he was right beside her.

The doctors and nurses quickly came in and pushed him out of the way. They took the paddles and began to shock her a few times. Then, they stopped. "No!" Nathan exclaimed. "No, Haley! Come back!" he exclaimed, rushing toward her body. The doctors didn't try to stop him. He held her face and buried his head in it. "Come back, Hales. Hales, come back," he said. "Hales?" he asked as he looked at her to see some sign of life in her closed eyes. "Hales?" he said again. "No!" he said and buried his head on her shoulder again and started crying.

Dialogue in the flashbacks are from One Tree Hill: 1.03 Are You True and 1. 08 The Search for Something More. Everything else is written by kat657


	9. Where You Need to Be

**Where You Need to Be **(Chapter Nine)

One doctor stepped forward and tried to move Nathan out of the way. "Son, you need to give us room to work on her. If you don't let us do our job, then your girlfriend will die," he said. It took him a second to respond, but he moved out of the way. They shocked Haley once. It didn't work. Then he said to charge at a higher number. They shocked her twice. The first time, nothing happened.

But a few seconds after the second time, the flat line changed to a line that went up and down again. He put down the paddles and smiled at Nathan. "She's back," he said.

"Oh, thank God," Nathan said, coming immediately over to the hospital bed and hugging her motionless body.

"This is all my fault," Jimmy James told his wife in their daughter's hospital room.

"Jimmy, don't be ridiculous. You didn't pull the trigger," Lydia said.

"No, I loaded the gun and pointed it in the right direction and our daughter was caught in the crossfire," he said. His wife looked at him in confusion. "That shooter was after me and we both know why," he said. Lydia shook her head.

"You don't know that for sure," she said.

"What other explanation could there possibly be?" Jimmy asked.

"There's no way it could be because of that. No one else knows about it," Lydia said. Jimmy looked at her in shock.

"There are no certainties in this business and you know it," he said. Lydia shook her head.

"Don't be ridiculous. Our lives are at stake, not our families'. The Bureau assured us when we signed on," Lydia said.

"Well, the bureau was wrong," he said. Jimmy and Lydia James were agents for the FBI. They worked for a black ops division that was designed to bring down criminals, such as drug lords, terrorist groups, etc, using any means necessary, including taking illegal action. They kept their true jobs a secret from their children until they reached the age of nineteen. Haley was the only one who didn't know and she was the only who might have to pay the ultimate price. Lydia looked over at her damaged daughter who was straddling a rope between life and death. According to the doctors and Nathan, Haley had almost lost the battle several times. "When she wakes up, we need to tell her the truth," Jimmy said.

"Jimmy, no. She didn't know and look at her now. Imagine the kind of danger we'll be putting her into if she finds out," Lydia said.

"But at least she'll have a fighting chance," Jimmy said.

Nathan sat by Haley's bedside, reading a magazine. She'd been in a coma for over three weeks now and he was slowly sinking into his own version of a coma without her. He still went to practice every now and then, but once Whitey saw him there, he'd tell him to leave to go see Haley. Apparently, it was written all over his face that that's where he wanted to be and Whitey adored Haley. Every one did. At first, Nathan had been confused as to how Whitey even knew Haley but then he told him and it filled him with pride to know that he was with such a loving and caring person.

When his wife was in the hospital with severe lung cancer, Haley was a volunteer and always brought food or books to cheer her up. Since Whitey was always at work after school, Haley would spend time with Camilla until Whitey showed up after practice. Camilla could be wide awake or sleeping soundly and every day after practice when Whitey came to visit his wife, Haley would be sitting in the chair beside her bed. Whether she was reading, singing a song for Camilla, or just simply sitting and chatting, she was always there.

Ever since her heart had stopped beating that one time, Nathan had been terrified that Haley could actually die. He didn't want to miss one second of the time he had with her. He was grateful that his coach understood and had even taken him aside to give him a few words of wisdom earlier.

/Flashback/

"Nathan, come here," he said. Nathan had just thrown the ball out of bounds the fourth time that practice and that was something he never did. He knew Whitey was probably going to tear him a new one, but he didn't really care. He was silently hoping he would throw him out of practice so he could go see Haley. "What do you think you're doing?" Whitey asked, his deep voice booming throughout the gymnasium.

"I'm sorry, Coach. I'm just a little preoccupied today. I'm trying to stay focused on the game," Nathan said.

"Well, stop. I wasn't talking about your crap-ass attempts at playing basketball. I'm wondering what the heck you're doing here when there's someone who needs you and right now, it sure as hell isn't the team, especially with the way you've been playing," Whitey said. Nathan stopped to look at him for a second. He had no idea what Whitey is talking about. "How is Haley?" Whitey asked. Whitey felt a wave of a sympathy as Nathan deflated. In that moment, he looked distraught than he had ever seen him. Actually, come to think of it, Whitey didn't remember ever seeing Nathan look distraught since Haley had gotten shot.

"She's not doing so good," he said.

"She's still in a coma, right?" Whitey asked. Nathan nodded. "Then, what the hell are you doing here, you knucklehead? Go and be with your girlfriend," he yelled.

/End of Flashback/

Lydia walked in and smiled when she saw Nathan. "I'm glad you're here, Nathan. I have to go home and talk to Haley's older brother, Anthony, is on his way to the house. He doesn't know yet," Lydia said. From what Haley told him of her family, he knew that Anthony was the second child, but oldest son. He was about twenty-seven or so and he was in the military.

"I'll stay with her," he promised, following her line of thought. Lydia smiled at him gratefully as she grabbed a coat and left. Nathan put his magazine down on the tray that held Haley's breakfast that like all the other days, she hadn't touched. He didn't understand why the staff kept bringing it to her when she was in a coma. He took her cold hand and put it between both of his and rubbed it, hoping to warm it up. It didn't work. "Haley?" he called to her. His spirits dropped. He looked at the monitor. A while ago, a nurse had told him that sometimes coma patients' blood pressure spike when you speak to them, but there was no spike in Haley's.

The door to her room opened and he almost dropped her hand when his mother and father walked into the room. Nathan got up and led them over to the corner of the room. He had a feeling there was going to be an argument and he didn't want his parents to disrupt Haley's recovery. "Mom. Dad. How did you get in here?" he asked.

"I'm the mayor of this town, Nathan. Do you honestly think there's a place in this town that I can't get into?" Dan asked. Nathan looked down for a second.

"I'm sorry. Is everything ok?" he asked. Deb looked at Dan in caution.

"We just wanted to make sure you were ok," Deb said.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Nathan asked. Dan snorted.

"I got a call from the principal and he told me that you left practice early today," Dan said.

"So?" Nathan asked.

"So!" Dan repeated, his deep voice booming throughout the room. Nathan looked over to check to see if Haley was still asleep.

"Dad, Whitey knows that I left. I'm not in trouble; I'm still on the team, if that's what you're upset about," Nathan explained, though he could tell just by the way his father's face hardened that it didn't matter.

"Why did you leave?" Deb asked.

"Well, I was preoccupied and Whitey noticed. He was actually mad that I was there," Nathan said.

"Answer your mother's question," Dan ordered.

"I wanted to see Haley," he said.

"Who?" Dan asked. Nathan scoffed.

"Haley James," Nathan said. His father still seemed confused. "My girlfriend?" he said.

"I thought you were dating that Rihanna girl," Deb said.

"I didn't know you dated girls. I thought you just…" Dan started to say but his sentence trailed off when Deb turned to look at him questioningly. Nathan shook his head.

"Well, I've been dating Haley for a few months now," he said.

"And where is Haley?" Deb asked. Nathan sighed as he walked over to the bed and touched Haley's hand.

"She's right here," he said.

"You're dating a coma patient?" his father exploded in disbelief.

"She wasn't always in a coma, Dad. This happened a few weeks ago. She was shot twice and she hasn't woken up yet," Nathan said. Deb walked over and put her hand on Nathan's shoulder.

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry," she said. Nathan nodded and hugged his mother.

"How is her progress?" Deb asked.

"Slow," Nathan replied. His father walked over and looked down at Haley with a critical eye.

"She's not as attractive as some of your other girlfriends," Dan said.

"Dan!" Deb exclaimed.

"What?" Dan asked.

"Well, for starters, that is hardly a nice thing to say at anytime, much less right in front of the person you're talking about," Deb said.

"She can't hear me," Dan said.

"Sometimes they can hear you," Deb reminded him. Dan rolled his eyes.

A week later…

Lucas opened the door and was shocked to see Dan and Deb Scott in Haley's hospital room. Dan turned around and smiled at him sarcastically. "Well, if it isn't my pride and joy. Oh, wait. You're not him," he said. Lucas rolled his eyes and looked at Nathan. Nathan shook his head in embarrassment.

"How is she doing?" he asked, ignoring Deb and Dan completely. The only thing that mattered to him in that moment was how his best friend was doing. Deb and Dan weren't his problem. They were Nathan's and in that moment, he actually felt sorry for Nathan. Nathan shook his head at him in misery. Lucas nodded. He understood that Nathan was telling him that either there was no change or Haley had gotten worse. Either way, it was bad news. He and Nathan had reached some sort of solid ground ever since Haley had gotten hurt. Lucas hated seeing Haley looking so weak and being powerless to help her. He imagined that Nathan felt the same way. In some way, he must have felt worse because he had been there when Haley was hurt and he was unable to protect her. Lucas would feel the same way if he had been in Nathan's position.

He walked over to Haley's still form, pushing his way past Dan and leaned down to whisper in Haley's ear. "Hey, Hales, it's Luke. If you can hear me, please come back to us. You'll be so shocked to see that Nathan and I have spent at least three hours in this room with you together and not one of us has a mark on our body. Weird, huh? You were right; Nathan is a good guy," he said.

"This is pathetic. Seeing the two of you so broken over a girl like her is so embarrassing," Dan said.

"A girl like her?" Lucas repeated, though he knew exactly what Dan had meant. It was his subtle way of saying that Haley wasn't worth anything simply because she wasn't as rich as he was.

"And to think that you walked out of practice for her…" Dan started.

"Dan," Deb warned him.

"Enough of this crap, Nathan. Tomorrow, I want you in the gym where you belong. If I get another phone call from the principal, I'm going to revoke all of your privileges," Dan said.

"Dad, I don't care what you threaten. Whitey knows I'm not coming to practice this week. I'm staying with Haley," he said.

"Like hell you are. You're not going to waste one more minute of your time over her. She's clearly not worth it," Dan said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lucas demanded.

"Take a look at her. She's practically at Death's door. I feel as though as I should pull the plug to put her out of her misery. That would be the humane thing to do, but it seems as if you and her parents wish to prolong her suffering," Dan said. Nathan got up and walked over to his father. He stared at him for a minute and then he raised his arm. Deb stepped in between them.

"Don't do it, Nathan. Don't you dare hit your father. You'll regret it if you do," she said. Nathan backed down.

"Yeah, Nathan. Allow me," Lucas said, punching Dan square across the face. Dan laughed as he held his face in pain.

"Hitting him is not going to change that girl's situation. She's still dying and the sooner you come to accept that, the better off you'll be," Deb said.

"Mom, are you seriously siding with Dad?" Nathan asked in shock. Deb looked at him sympathetically.

"Do I think that girl is a waste of time? Of course not. Do I think you're wasting your time visiting her all the time? Yes," Deb asked. Nathan stood back from her and shook his head in amazement. "Honey, your father's right. If you continue to visit her and watch her slip away from you a little more every day, it's going to destroy you. You'll be devastated and I know you; you'll blame yourself when she dies. But it wouldn't be your fault," Deb said. Nathan shook his head, but Deb continued. "If she's as good as you say, then she wouldn't want you to be doing this," Deb said.

"No, she wouldn't want to be alone," he said.

"She's not alone. She's got Lucas and her family by her side," Deb said.

"None of them are me," he reminded her.

"Nathan, think about where you need to be," she said.

"Mom, I'm exactly where I need to be right now," he said and walked back to Haley.

"I'm going to go home and try to somehow make peace," Nathan said. Lucas laughed.

"Want to know what I think?" he asked. Nathan shrugged. "I think the only way to make peace with your father is to break up with her," Lucas said.

"That's not going to happen. Besides, I was talking about making peace with my mom," Nathan said. Lucas laughed. Nathan chuckled and got up and grabbed his coat and put it on. He came over and kissed Haley on the forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said. Then, he kissed her on the forehead again and started to leave. As he opened the door he heard someone call his name.

"Nathan," the voice said. Nathan stopped and turned around to look at Lucas expectantly. Lucas wasn't even looking at him. He was looking down at Haley in shock. Nathan shook his head in disbelief and was about to turn around when he saw Haley open her mouth and speak again. "Nathan," she said softly.


	10. Resurrection of the One Presumed Dead

**Resurrection of the One Presumed Dead **(Chapter Ten)

Nathan and Lucas sat by Haley's bedside with her parents in the hallway bickering about something. Haley's brother, Anthony had been in earlier, but was now outside joining in the bickering. "I really thought she was awake," Lucas said, referring to the time Haley had called out Nathan's name. Nathan nodded.

"So did I. I had no idea that coma patients could actually talk and remain in a coma," he said. Lucas smiled in amusement.

"It is kind of funny, but the doctor said that it was a probably good sign that she's talking at all. And she said the name of someone she knows. So, there's no brain damage for sure now," Lucas said. Nathan nodded and counted his blessings for that. He would never forgive himself if Haley had been damaged that way. Lucas sighed. "Look, Nathan, I wanted to apologize for the way I've been acting," he said. Nathan looked at him in confusion. "Before when I first found out about you and Haley, I was a jerk. I guess it threw me, but she's right; you really are good to her," Lucas said.

"Obviously not good enough," Nathan said.

"This isn't your fault. Whoever shot Haley was not after you and there's no way you could've predicted it," Lucas said.

"I was there. I knew something wasn't right when Haley was arguing with her father in the backyard. I just didn't realize…" Nathan started.

"That there would be a shoot out in the backyard. I wouldn't have either. If anyone's to blame, it would be Haley's parents, not you," Lucas said.

"What are you talking about? Do you think they, like, ordered a hit on her?" Nathan asked. Lucas burst out laughing.

"Of course not. The shooter was clearly after Haley's father and they both know what it's about. And Haley didn't. So they put their daughter in danger. I heard Anthony saying that they needed to tell her the truth but Lydia objected. So, the James have a secret that they haven't shared with her and when she wakes up and if she remembers what happened, Haley will probably want answers, if she doesn't already have them," Lucas said.

"I thought you said that they haven't told her," Nathan said.

"That doesn't mean she didn't figure it out on her own," Lucas said, smirking. Nathan nodded.

A week later…

"I think you should leave immediately, Mayor," Jimmy James said, looking at the monstrous mayor of Tree Hill angrily. Dan Scott laughed at him.

"I'll be happy to as soon as my son comes with me," he said. They were standing on the other side of the room but their voices carried. Nathan was ignoring them both. He was sitting by Haley while Lucas sat on her other side and Brooke was seated in a chair directly behind him, with her hands on his shoulders. Peyton was sitting beside Lucas and Jake was beside her. He had his left hand resting on Peyton's lap, while his right hand was touching part of Haley's right hand.

Nathan was by himself, sitting on Haley's left side, holding her left hand in between both of his hands and bringing it close to his head. He had received a panicked call from Haley's mother, Lydia James, telling him that Haley was now in critical condition again. "This may be one of her last nights with us, Nathan. It's important that her friends spend all the time they can with her while she's still among us," Lydia had said on the phone when Nathan said that his father refused to allow him to visit Haley anymore. As soon as he had heard that Haley was in critical condition he had jumped out of his chair at his desk and gotten dressed into better clothes, thrown his jacket and shoes on, grabbed his keys and raced to his car without a word to his parents. He had picked Lucas and everyone else up from their houses and dragged them over to see Haley.

He knew that Brooke and Haley weren't the best of friends, but he figured that Lucas might need some moral support and while they might not have been tight, he knew Brooke cared about Haley. Jake and Haley had been friends ever since grade school. They palled around with Lucas and they were all best friends. Lucas and Jake had their love of basketball in common, while Haley and Jake shared a love of music and they all had the fact that they were outsiders in common. "So we decided to be friends to escape being outsiders. Well, at least to each other anyway," Haley had told him one day.

Haley and Peyton were not very close friends, but they were friends. Haley was the person Peyton came to when she wanted advice from someone she knew wouldn't judge her. They had found out that they both loved music and Peyton gave Haley the courage to pursue music in school. Nathan had often questioned why she never tried to become a professional singer. Haley had just laughed and said: "Singing is a hobby to me, Nathan. I might perform every once in a while, but it's not about a career for me. It's an escape. Besides, I don't want to be on the road all the time and be away from the people I care about."

"Don't you have any decency? My daughter is dying not ten feet from you and you're here insulting her and trying to drag her boyfriend away in her time of need," Jimmy said.

"Well, maybe if you had told your daughter the truth about what it is that you do, your daughter would not be in her current state. And my son has been by her side for the past few weeks and she's only gotten worse. It's destroying him watching her and I don't want him to suffer years from now because of her," he said.

"Dan, why don't you just leave? Nathan is not complaining about being here, is he? Every one just wants to say goodbye to a wonderful person that we'll all miss. We don't need you here trashing her and making trouble," Lucas said, walking over. Brooke came over with him. Dan turned around and looked at him menacingly.

"And the disappointments just keep coming," he said.

"Go to hell," Lucas said. They started bickering back and forth then Nathan came over and pushed them both away from each other. His force was so strong that Dan fell against the wall.

"I don't care where you go, just as long as you go," Nathan said. Dan got up and walked over to Nathan. He towered over him and looked down at him threateningly.

"Do not lay your hands on me again," he warned. Nathan scoffed. Feeling that there was about to be a huge blow out, Jake came over and pulled Nathan away from behind just as he was about to take a swing at his father. "You want to hit me, Nathan? Go right ahead, but I guarantee that it won't do any good," Dan said.

"Maybe not. But, you know, I'll feel a lot better," Nathan said. They continued to argue back and forth.

"All of you need to stop this. It's not helping anything," Peyton said. Brooke nodded in agreement with her and they both continued to tell them to stop arguing, but the yelling had between Lucas, Nathan and Dan had become so loud that they weren't heard.

And no one noticed the change in Haley's heart monitor. It began beeping rapidly as there was now more brain activity and she started moving her fingers on the bed trying to feel for the people she thought might be there. They were all on the other side of the room, but she didn't know that. An overwhelming feeling of confusion washed through her as all sorts of questions raced through her mind. Why was she lying down? Why did her eyes hurt so much that she couldn't open them yet? Why did her gut hurt? Why was she reaching out for people? Where was she? Why couldn't she speak?

A few minutes later, Haley finally slowly opened her eyes. She looked around and realized that she must be in the hospital. She couldn't talk because there was a tube down her throat preventing her from doing so. But she wanted to so she could scream at the people who were yelling to shut up. She slowly moved her arms to look for something to move to get attention. But there was nothing. Now she was panicking. She was awake and there was people in the room with her but no one seemed to notice that she was awake, desperately wanting their help. She gathered her strength and slammed her fists down on her bed around ten times, hoping the noise would get someone's attention. Nothing. She strained her head and felt pain as the tube had severely restricted her movements but not enough for her to notice that there was a wooden chair within her reach beside the bed. She moved her arm and banged on it a couple of times.

Nathan looked over at the banging and noticed a very familiar, delicate fist on the chair he had been sitting on. "Haley?" he asked from where he was standing. The banging stopped and he raced over to her side. He grabbed her hand and she squeezed his tightly as she looked at him in panic. There were tears coming out of her eyes. He wiped her tears away with his sleeve, careful not to disturb the tube in her throat. "Welcome back. I guess you're wondering what's going on," he said. She squeezed his hand again. "I'll go get a nurse or doctor," Lucas said quickly and ran out of the room. "Well, you were shot twice, Hales. You've been in a coma for about a month or so," he said. Haley looked at him in disbelief. The doctor came running in and smiled when he saw that Haley was awake. He started talking to her about what had happened. She blinked at him, telling him that she understood. Then she looked down at the tube. He smiled.

"Oh, right. I'll take that out. Now, when I tell you to I want you take a deep breath and then exhale," he said.

He did something with another part of the tube and told her to breathe in and then told her to exhale as he pulled the tube out. Haley started coughing as she gasped for air. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded a few minutes later, looking at all of the people in her room. She recognized her father, Brooke, Peyton, Jake, Lucas, Nathan and the mayor, Nathan and Lucas' father. Nathan explained to her why they were there. "I realized that. I was wondering what you were yelling about," she said, looking at Lucas and Nathan warningly.

"We weren't fighting," Lucas assured her, referring to himself and Nathan. Then, Nathan explained the fight. About a half an hour later, it was just her and Nathan in her hospital room.

"So, you've been here all this time?" Haley asked.

"Well, mostly. I came here after school all the time and I practically lived here on the weekends. Lucas was here a lot of the time too. We've actually become friends," Nathan said. Haley looked at him in disbelief.

"Are you sure I was only out for a month?" she joked. He laughed and leaned in and kissed her lightly. When the kiss ended, Nathan brought his hands to her face and pulled her head closer to him and kissed her hungrily.

"You were gone too long," he said a few minutes later. Haley smiled.

"I was five," she said out of nowhere. Nathan looked at her in confusion.

"What?" he asked. Haley smirked at him.

"When I drew that map of the Stanford campus, I was five," she said. He looked at her in bewilderment for a few minutes. Then, he laughed.

"You heard all of that?" he asked in amazement.

"I heard everything," she said, "and I love you too." He smiled and hugged her.


	11. The Truth Will Set You Free

**The Truth Will Set You Free… Yeah, Right **(Chapter Eleven)

"Just what exactly are you telling me?" Haley asked her parents. She was sitting in her hospital room.

"The truth, honey," Jimmy explained. Haley looked at them in disbelief and shook her head. She actually laughed at them.

"So you're informants for the FBI?" Haley asked, not quite believing it because it sounded so absurd. Her parents were business people, not agents for the government. Right?

"I'm afraid it runs much deeper than that," Lydia replied, shaking her head.

"That person who shot at us represents one of the biggest crime lords in Tree Hill," Jimmy said.

"Who we worked for up until a few months ago. When that person fired us, we knew we had to go to the FBI and get them to put a stop to the person's madness," Lydia replied.

"What was 'that person' doing?" Haley asked. Lydia and Jimmy both looked at each other and then at her.

"We can't tell you," Jimmy said. Haley looked at him in disbelief.

"I was the one that was shot and I almost died. If it hadn't been for Nathan, I would be dead. And that would've been on your hands. Now I appreciate that you're telling me now but if you're going to tell me, you need to tell me everything, not just bits and pieces," she said firmly. Her parents looked at each other in worry and then began to tell her everything.

"Haley, what is it?" Nathan asked, sitting at his girlfriend's bedside. Haley looked at him innocently.

"What?" she asked, widening her eyes in confusion. She leaned in and kissed him lightly. When the kiss ended, he looked at her and smirked at her attempt to try to lead him off the subject.

"Come on. You've got that look," he said, eyeing her carefully.

"What look?" she asked.

"The look you get when you should to tell me something, but you're either not sure how or you don't really want to tell me," he said. Haley smiled and looked away for a second.

"You caught that one, huh?" she asked. He nodded and smiled at her. "Damn. It took my family like four years to figure that out."

"Stop stalling, Hales," he said in amusement. She looked at him seriously for a minute. She looked worried. He cupped her cheek. "Come on, you know you can tell me anything." Haley took a deep breath.

"I know who shot me and why," Haley said. Nathan looked at her in surprise. He had not seen that one coming.

"Ok. Who was it?" Nathan asked. He could feel his anger mounting as he remembered what it felt like to see Haley lying in a pool of her own blood because she was protecting her own father. Then, his anger mounted at Haley's father. He had deduced long ago that he was the intended target of the shooting in the James' backyard and how he could stand there and pretend like everything was ok after his daughter was nearly killed because of something he had done.

"This is going to come as a shock," Haley said. He rolled his eyes at her but made sure to keep his head down so she wouldn't notice. "Nathan, my parents were informants for the FBI." He looked up at her.

"What?" he asked.

"My parents worked for someone in Tree Hill for a long time. You know they're accountants so they know a lot about how to hide money in places and schemes to make certain things not show up on tax returns. That's what they did for this person," Haley said.

"So, they were going to the FBI to give them the records or help bring the person down?" Nathan asked. Haley nodded. "And the person they were selling out found out about their new partnership and decided to what, get even?" His tone suggested that he didn't really believe it. Haley nodded.

"That's exactly what happened. Only the shooter didn't count on their daughter being there or jumping in the way of the bullet and so I was hit," Haley said.

"I'm glad your parents told you the truth, but what does all of this have to do with me?" he asked, shrugging.

"Here comes the part I don't really want to tell you," she said.

"Do I need to know?" he asked. Haley stopped to think for a second and then nodded. "What?"

"The person that my parents were working for…" she started.

"Who is it?" he asked, smirking at her in confusion.

"It's your father," she replied. Nathan dropped her hand. He stood up and looked at her in disbelief. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be sorry. It's not true, Haley. My father may be a lot of things but he's not a criminal," he said, shaking his head, dismissing the notion that his father had been lying to him and his mother. Haley looked at him sympathetically. He was angry at her at that moment.

"Nathan, my parents told me everything," she said gently. He scoffed.

"The word of two criminals? That's what you're basing this accusation on?" he demanded. Haley stiffened.

"My parents aren't criminals," Haley said defensively. He laughed at her.

"My father is the mayor of Tree Hill. He's an upstanding citizen. He won't even violate traffic laws, let alone, falsify financial documents. That's your parents and they copped to it, Haley. So that does make them criminals," he said.

"I know that this is hard for you to accept, Nathan, but it's the truth," Haley said. He snorted.

"Your parents' version of the truth, Haley. No offence or anything, but their word isn't worth much," he said. Haley scoffed and shook her head in annoyance.

"Some taken," she said. He shrugged.

"Well, how do you think I feel? You accused my father of breaking the law," he said.

"You basically called my parents 'blue-collar criminals'," Haley said.

"I was only stating the truth," Nathan said.

"I'll be the first to admit that they did something wrong, but that doesn't make them criminals," she said.

"Fine, if it helps you, you believe that," he said. Haley narrowed her eyes in anger. "But since you bring that up, even if my father did do that, it doesn't make him a criminal," he said.

"Maybe not. But ordering a hit on someone does," Haley said.

"Which he didn't do," he said.

"Yes, he did. Why won't you believe me?" she asked.

"How can I? It's been said that the apple doesn't fall that far from the tree," he said. Haley winced but then she regained her composure.

"I guess you would be an expert on that," she said. She looked at him in disappointment. "You should leave." Nathan was about to protest but the intensity of Haley's glare made it clear: there was no way he was going to be able to reason with her. He shrugged.

"Fine," he said, leaving her hospital room and not looking back.


	12. I Didn't Mean To

**I Didn't Mean To **(Chapter twelve)

"You said what?" Lucas exclaimed, looking at him in disbelief. Over the last month, Lucas and Nathan had become friends.

"I know; it was stupid," Nathan said shaking his head.

"You think?" Lucas said. Nathan rolled his eyes. It had been three days since Nathan had called Haley a liar, insulted her parents and her. Now he had finally decided to tell his brother the truth about why he never visited Haley, who was still in the hospital after being shot. Apparently, the doctors were shocked that Haley had woken up. According to them, Haley should be dead, but for some unknown reason she had woken up and they wanted to keep Haley until she healed up a bit to prevent a relapse from occurring.

"Look, I feel bad enough as it is," Nathan said.

"And you should feel bad. Nathan, you do realize that Haley almost died because of what Dan did," Lucas said. Nathan glared at him.

"You mean what someone else did," Nathan said. Lucas eyed him carefully.

"You really think Haley was lying?" Lucas asked.

"No, I just think she was misinformed. Her parents aren't exactly saints. You can't blame me for believing my father, the Mayor, over criminals," Nathan said. He cringed as he realized he had just called Haley's parents criminals again.

"I understand your position, Nathan, but I tend to agree with Haley. I mean, her parents have no reason to lie. They've already confessed to their crimes and the FBI obviously knows that they were working for someone powerful so why would they lie and blame your dad? Why not blame Donald Trump if they were lying?" Lucas asked.

"They don't have any proof," Nathan pointed out.

"You don't know that. And, come on. It's Dan Scott. Personally, I wouldn't put anything past him," Lucas said.

"You have a personal reason for thinking that way," Nathan said.

"So what? That fact doesn't make it any less true. Just take a look at all the things he's done to you over a sport, for God's sakes! He wants his son to win and he'll cut corners in order to make that happen. Do you really think he'll think twice before cutting corners if it means he'll win something?" Lucas pointed out. Nathan stopped to think. He nodded.

"You could be right," Nathan said.

"I am right," Lucas said.

"So what do I do now?" Nathan asked. Lucas smirked.

"Go to the hospital and apologize to Haley," Lucas replied. Nathan laughed and smirked.

"Thanks, Luke. You're not a bad brother," Nathan said. He and Lucas just looked at each other. "Okay, that just sounds weird."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed, laughing.

"Hey, Haley," Peyton said, walking into her friend's hospital room.

"Hey, Peyton," Haley said after she opened her eyes.

"I brought you some homework from English," Peyton said, passing her a few papers. Haley took them out of her hands. She frowned at the material. "What?"

"Well, it's just that I helped one of the students I was tutoring with this exact assignment last semester," Haley said. Peyton chuckled. 

"Then, it shouldn't be too difficult for you," Peyton said. Haley nodded in agreement and put the papers down on the table by her bed.

"So, what brings you by? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the company but don't you have cheerleading practice?" Haley asked.

"Brooke cancelled it for today because she had to go out with her parents or something," Peyton said. Haley nodded. Peyton studied Haley for a minute. "Are you all right?" Haley shrugged. Peyton eyed her.

"Nathan and I had a fight," she admitted.

"About what?" Peyton asked.

"I can't really tell you about it because it involves the reason this happened," Haley said, pointing to the holes in her gut. Peyton nodded.

"Anything I can do?" Peyton asked. Haley shook her head.

"No. I just really thought Nathan would be happy that I told him what I told him. I mean, I knew it would hurt but he had a right to know," Haley said.

"I'm sure you meant well, Haley, and Nathan probably knows that you were only trying to be honest with him about whatever it was. He'll come around eventually. He just tends to figure things out slower than the rest of us," Peyton quipped. Haley glared at Peyton.

"Nathan's not stupid," Haley said sternly. Peyton giggled.

"Sorry," Peyton said. Then, there was a knock on the door and it opened. Nathan peered into the room.

"Hey, Peyton," he said. Then he turned to Haley. "Can we talk?"

"I'll go make myself scarce," Peyton said, getting up and leaving. She smirked at both Nathan and Haley sympathetically before closing the door behind her. Nathan walked into the room and noticed Haley's eyes watching his every move. He could feel the frustration curling off her like smoke. He turned to her and shrugged.

"I'm sorry," he said in a desperate voice. Haley sighed and motioned for him to come and sit down on the bed with her. He did and she put one of her hands on his arm.

"I was only trying to be honest with you, Nathan. I thought that you might want to know the truth about what your father's up to," Haley said.

"I know. And I guess on some level, I knew that you were telling me the truth. It's just hard for me to accept that my dad would do something like that," Nathan said. Haley raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Look, I know my dad is a mean guy. He's an ass that abandons one of his sons and his girlfriend, pressures his other son to the point where he takes performance enhancers to please him…" Haley looked at Nathan in alarm at the admission but Nathan went on, not noticing Haley's reaction: "… and ignores his wife. I know all of that. I never said he was a saint but he's still my dad." He looked up at her.

"I understand, Nathan and it's ok," she said.

"No, it's not ok. My dad broke the law and then he tried to cover it up. He almost cost me you," Nathan said, shaking his head in disagreement. He pulled her hand that had been on his arm and brought it up to his head. He kissed it and held it against his forehead. "My dad is not more important than you. I never want to lose you, Haley."

"You're not going to lose me, Nathan," she said.

"But I almost did and it's because of my dad," Nathan said.

"What are you saying?" Haley asked.

"I guess I'm saying that I want your parents to bring him down," Nathan said, looking at her seriously.


	13. Catch Me When You Fall

**Catch Me When I Fall **(Chapter thirteen)

Lydia and Jimmy James sat down at a table in their daughter's hospital room, waiting for Dan Scott to show up to collect the ledger book that they had fixed for him. A few minutes passed, and the door opened. Dan walked in looking calm and collected. He looked at them and then looked at Haley. "Why are we doing this here?" he asked. 

"We don't want to leave her alone right now. Some disturbing test results came back and she doesn't know about them yet," Lydia lied, hoping Dan believed her.

"Can she hear us?" he asked. Lydia shook her head.

"She was given a sedative to help her sleep. She's been out like a light for almost two hours," Jimmy said. Dan nodded and walked in closer.

"So do you have it?" he asked. They both nodded.

"There is something we should tell you about it, though," Jimmy said.

"What? Don't tell me you weren't able to make one amount smaller than the other. You are supposed to be the best of the best. That ledger better be done properly," Dan said making a move to take it from Lydia, who released her grip on it as soon as Dan's hand touched it.

"No, that's not what we were going to tell you. We just hope that nearly killing our daughter was worth it just to get your hands on it," Jimmy said.

"You know damn well that I was after you, not her. The shooter shot the wrong person but its your fault that the shooter was there in the first place. If you had done what you were supposed to do from the beginning, I never would've had to put a hit out on you," Dan said. All of a sudden, something fell out of Haley's bed. Dan looked at the floor and noticed that it was a tape recorder.

"Whoops," Haley said quietly as she painfully bent down to grab the tape recorder before Dan could. She succeeded but not before Dan got his hand around her throat. Haley gasped for breath, but still held onto the tape recorder. She put it behind her so she was lying on it.

"Let go of her right now, Scott!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"Not until she gives me that tape recorder. Now, young lady," he said. Haley was wheezing now, but still had enough strength to stop him from reaching behind her to grab it. All of a sudden, the door opened and Nathan walked in.

"Dad, let go of her!" Nathan exclaimed, running over but Dan was strong enough to keep his hands from interfering.

"If you girlfriend is smart, she'll give me the tape recorder," Dan said.

"Haley, give it to him," Nathan said in defeat. Haley blinked her eyes a few times signalling that she wasn't going to. "Please!"

"Haley, do it," her father said.

"Please. Putting him away will mean nothing to me if you die," Nathan said. He looked down at her from beside his father and pleaded with his eyes. Haley reached behind her and grabbed the tape recorder and held it out where Dan could grab it. Dan released her and Haley started coughing. Nathan was by her side in an instant. "Don't even try to talk yet," he told her as she continued to cough.

"That will teach you to try and outsmart me, young lady," Dan said, before walking out of the room with the ledger. A few minutes passed and Haley was fine.

"Tell them to grab him outside," Haley said.

"Honey, we can't. That tape was the only thing backing up our story. Without it, it's our word against his and he's a mayor," her mother said. Haley reached down behind her and when she opened her hand, she revealed a small plastic audio tape.

"I took it out before. That's why it dropped," Haley said. Nathan smiled and kissed her hair.

"I love you but don't ever scare me like that again," he said. Haley chuckled and kissed him back but on the mouth.

The End


End file.
